Tom Friedman: “Bonfire of the Assets, with Trump Lighting Matches”Post Date: 2015-08-27 14:40:44 by nativist nationalist3 Comments Above, a picture of NYT columnist Tom Friedmans house. From the NYT business section: Business Group Assails Donald Trump for Urging Higher Taxes on Some Companies His political platform is based largely on his business acumen, but Donald J. Trump is making a habit of rankling the business world with his ideas on trade and taxes. On Wednesday, the conservative Club for Growth took issue with Mr. Trumps proposal to increase taxes on companies such as Ford when they source parts or make cars in countries like Mexico. The billionaire real estate developer suggested imposing a 35 percent tax on the carmaker as a penalty for such behavior. It should thrill liberals and ...

Crashing markets increase the odds of a Trump presidencyPost Date: 2015-08-25 14:54:41 by tpaine6 Commentsnypost.com Crashing markets increase the odds of a Trump presidency Photo: Reuters Crashing markets and floundering economies amplify voter anxiety  just like they did in 2008, when they helped propel into the White House a one-term US senator and community organizer. So, is it really so crazy to think that voters might elect as president in 2016 a real estate developer with little policy experience but lots of experience in land speculation, building casinos and reality TV? After months of believing Donald Trump was a flash in the pan, Im willing to concede that The Donald could become the GOP nominee  and possibly the next president of the United States. ...

When Rules Multiply, the World Needs Rule BreakersPost Date: 2015-08-19 09:07:38 by Deckard1 CommentsHumans need rules. Rules make life more predictable. But when the rules multiply, the world needs some rule-breakers.The creator of the underground website Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison for creating an online space that allowed people to use bitcoins to buy and sell things. Some used Silk Road (named after Marco Polo's trading route from China) to sell illegal drugs. People do that anyway, even without Silk Road; since the site's closing, numerous similar websites have taken its place. The prosecution implied (but never really argued) that Ulbricht planned murders. That would certainly be breaking a basic rule of civilization, but Ulbricht claims that ...

GM may import a Buick built in China (Envision - Shanghai)Post Date: 2015-08-18 22:16:52 by Hondo6812 CommentsGeneral Motors may be the first U.S. automaker to build a car in China and sell it in the U.S. market. IHS Automotive says its analysis leads it to believe GM is planning to start shipping a small SUV, the Buick Envision, back to the U.S. by next year. The car is built in Shanghai for the China market. GM builds and sells more cars in China than in the U.S. The Buick brand is very popular in China, far more so than in the U.S. GM would neither confirm nor deny plans to export the Envision to the U.S. "It is all speculation at this point," said Buick spokesman Nick Richards. "To this point we haven't disclosed any plans for it outside of China." There is only ...

California: $15 Minimum Wage, $30 Per Pizza, Massive FailPost Date: 2015-08-17 19:47:31 by cranky20 CommentsSmall businesses are already struggling to survive the spate of minimum wage increases to $15 per hour in parts of California. Last month, the small Bay Area town of Emeryville, California, (population 10,000) decided to act as flag-bearer for raising the minimum wage in California, hiking its minimum wage to $14.44 per hour. Even though businesses with less than 56 workers are exempt from the $14.44 rate and do not have to raise their wages to $15 until 2018, Vic Gumper, who owns Lanesplitter Pizza, with outlets in Berkeley, Oakland, Albany and Emeryville, decided not only to bite the bullet but swallow it, paying his workers $15 to $25 an hour while eschewing tips or raising prices. He ...

New trolleys can fully recharge in 30 secondsPost Date: 2015-08-13 08:38:30 by Willie Green2 CommentsTrain equipment maker CRRC Corp is introducing a fast-charge trolley bus system that trades traditional overhead cables for an energy model that can fully charge a trolley in 30 seconds while passengers are getting on and off. The company claims that the flash charge supercapacitor is the only one in the world that allows a trolley bus to run for 8 kilometers with 10 seconds of charging. "The technology is especially suited for buses that make frequent stops over short distances, and greatly reduces the pollution from public transportation," said Zhou Qinghe, the president and general manager of CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. "When they brake or run downhill, more ...

Man Uses Drone to Expose One of America's ‘Biggest Secrets’Post Date: 2015-08-02 15:41:02 by Willie Green2 Comments Smithfield Foods has a lot to answer for after a drone just exposed the vile environmental practices happening at one of its pig farms in North Carolina. Recently, filmmaker Mark Devries flew a drone over the hidden farm to see what was happening behind the thick forest cover surrounding it. Next to the warehouses packed with thousands of pigs, the drone spied a massive cess pool the size of four football fields. According to a former local farmer, Don Webb, It is a cess pool that you put feces and urine in a hole in the ground that you dump a toxic waste in. All of the pig waste is collected in the warehouses and flushed into the giant pool large enough to accommodate the ...

Death of a Diploma Mill: University of Phoenix Going Down in Flames?Post Date: 2015-08-02 15:05:15 by Willie Green9 CommentsThe troubled online university might have finally been dealt dual deathblows as they announced an FTC investigation and a 54% drop in enrollment.A phoenix is a bird that rises from the ashes, but the University of Phoenix is a diploma mill that may soon go down in flames. On Wednesday, University of Phoenixs parent company Apollo Education Group announced that the business and marketing practices of the for-profit school are now under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). CNNMoney reports that Apollo will cooperate fully with the FTC investigation, which requires them to provide the federal agency with documents on their finances, marketing, accreditation, ...

CEO Raises Salaries to $70K for EVERY Employee, Now has to Rent Out his Own Home to Make Ends Meet[Full Thread]Post Date: 2015-08-02 10:40:45 by GrandIsland63 CommentsBack in April we told you about Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, who said he would pay every single one of his employees $70,000 annually. Every single one, from the lowest skilled workers on up. Now, as expected, Price has fallen on hard times financially, even having to rent out his own home. Employees who work for Gravity are now leaving the company, spurred in part by their view that it was unfair to double the pay of some new hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises. This was always going to be the outcome. If everyone hits the jackpot, does anybody really win the lottery? When Dan Price, founder and CEO of the Seattle-based ...

Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.4M vehicles to prevent hackingPost Date: 2015-07-24 13:49:53 by cranky6 CommentsFiat Chrysler has decided to recall about 1.4 million cars and trucks in the U.S. just days after two hackers detailed how they were able to take control of a Jeep Cherokee SUV over the Internet. The company will update software to insulate the vehicles from being remotely controlled, and it said in a statement that hackers are committing a crime by manipulating vehicle without authorization. The recall affects vehicles with 8.4-inch touchscreens including 2013 to 2015 Ram pickups and chassis cabs and Dodge Viper sports cars. Also covered are 2014 and 2015 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee and Cherokee SUVs, as well as the 2015 Chrysler 200 and 300, and the Dodge Charger and ...

Donald Trump (And American Immigration Patriots) Against The Cultural Marxist EconomyPost Date: 2015-07-18 00:11:14 by nativist nationalist3 CommentsWed call it Stalinist if that wasnt an insult to the Communists. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has vowed that GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump will not be allowed to build in his city unless he make[s] some apologies for criticizing the Mexican governments policy of exporting criminals to the United States [Boston mayor: Donald Trump unwelcome without apology, by Marie Szaniszlo, Boston Herald, July 14, 2015]. This is simply the latest move by the totalitarian Cultural Marxist Left to impose a political test before Americans are allowed to engage in economic activity. The goal: to make immigration patriotism, or anything else deemed Politically Incorrect, ...

Marijuana opponents using racketeering law to fight industryPost Date: 2015-07-13 19:31:13 by cranky0 CommentsA federal law crafted to fight the mob is giving marijuana opponents a new strategy in their battle to stop the expanding industry: racketeering lawsuits. A Colorado pot shop recently closed after a Washington-based group opposed to legal marijuana sued not just the pot shop but a laundry list of firms doing business with it  from its landlord and accountant to the Iowa bonding company guaranteeing its tax payments. One by one, many of the plaintiffs agreed to stop doing business with Medical Marijuana of the Rockies, until the mountain shop closed its doors and had to sell off its pot at fire-sale prices. With another lawsuit pending in southern Colorado, the cases represent a new ...

The face-to-face airplane seating idea that’s being called a ‘nightmare’ Post Date: 2015-07-10 12:17:31 by Willie Green3 CommentsIf you think flying economy class is already as bad as it could be, brace yourself for some horrifying news.How bad is it? Wired calls it The most nightmarish idea for plane seating ever.Economy passengers are already crammed in tight, with little to no leg room, theyre fighting for elbow space and are forced to eat terrible food, often at an extra cost.Now comes the ultimate horror.Zodiac Seats France, one of the biggest manufacturers of aircraft passenger seats, has filed a patent for a seating configuration that would have passengers facing each other.Called economy class cabin hexagon, the design would take the middle seat in a row of three and turn it ...

Why the Democrats Will Do and Say Anything To Stop Donald TrumpPost Date: 2015-07-06 23:33:11 by A K A Stone23 CommentsSomeone is getting very nervous. President Barack Obama; Valerie Jarrett; Eric Holder; Hillary Clinton; Jon Corzine to name just a few. And I know why. I wrote a book entitled The Murder of the Middle Class about the unholy conspiracy between big government, big business and big media. They all benefit by the billions from this partnership and its in all of their interests to protect one another. Its one for all, and all for one. Its a heck of a filthy relationship that makes everyone filthy rich. Everyone except the American people. We get ripped off. Were the patsies. But for once, the powerful socialist cabal and the corrupt crony capitalists ...

ESPN Pulls Event from Donald Trump Golf CoursePost Date: 2015-07-06 19:02:45 by cranky8 CommentsESPN has become the latest corporate entity jump on the pig-pile on Donald Trump. Following moves by Macys, NBCUniversal, and NASCAR to distance themselves from the presidential candidate, ESPN has decided to move an annual golf tournament honoring late North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano from the Trump National Golf Club. We decided it was appropriate to change the venue, and are grateful for the opportunity to stage the event at Pelican Hill on short notice, the network announced in a statement. This charity outing benefits The V Foundations Stuart Scott Memorial Cancer Research Fund, providing resources for important cancer research for ...

Bloomberg: Good Luck Finding a Place to Hide as Global Markets CrumblePost Date: 2015-07-06 14:06:38 by Tooconservative2 Comments Investors tend to respond to impending doom by selling risky stuff and hiding out in safer assets -- namely, bonds in places such as Germany and the U.S. Theres a problem with that formula this time around: Traders arent so sure they can find anything thats truly safe right now. So, instead of piling into sovereign debt of developed nations, traders are pulling their money out of those places as the Greek economy teeters on the brink of collapse, Puerto Rico talks about delaying some debt payments and Chinas stock market suffers its biggest selloff since 1992. Investors yanked $2.9 billion from European government bond funds last week, more than ever before, and ...

Hey - Precious Metals - What's Happening?[Full Thread]Post Date: 2015-07-05 13:22:18 by Chuck_Wagon57 CommentsHello there, folks. I am starting this thread for those who are interested in 'hard money' - call it 'paleo-investing' it you will. The silver price has apparently been suppressed - for a while. Many so-called pundits and prognosticators predict that it MAY soon move upwards. The purpose of this thread is to keep track of these things. Participate if you will...

Greek banks down to €500m in cash reserves as economy crashesPost Date: 2015-07-03 19:58:54 by nativist nationalist0 CommentsThe daily allowance of cash from many ATM machines has already dropped from 60 to 50, purportedly because 20 notes are running out. Greece is sliding into a full-blown national crisis as the final cash reserves of the banking system evaporate by the hour and swathes of industry start to shut down, precipitating the near disintegration of the ruling coalition. Business leaders have been locked in talks with the Bank of Greece, pleading for the immediate release of emergency liquidity funds (ELA) to cover food imports and pharmaceutical goods before the tourist sector hits a brick wall. Officials say the central bank will release the funds as soon as Friday, but this is a ...

TV Land pulls ‘Dukes’ — Confederate flag a no-noPost Date: 2015-07-01 13:39:00 by Willie Green6 CommentsTom Wopat (left) and John Schneider with their car, the General Lee. The latest victim of the growing controversy over the Confederate flag is the 1980s TV series The Dukes of Hazzard. A TV Land spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that the network has pulled reruns of the series from its schedule, which had been airing twice a day. The network declined to comment on why the episodes were removed, but the South-set show has come under fire recently for its use of the Confederate flag, which is emblazoned on the roof of the Duke Boys signature 1969 orange Dodge Charger. Warner Bros., which owns The Dukes of Hazzard, last week halted production on toy replicas of ...

NASCAR again tries to distance itself from Confederate flagPost Date: 2015-06-24 10:30:00 by Willie Green2 Comments Confederate flags are as easy to find at NASCAR races as cutoff jeans, cowboy hats and beer. They fly over motorhomes. They adorn clothing. They are regular fixtures, just like Ford and Chevrolet, and that is unlikely to change any time soon. NASCAR probably would like to see them go away. The sanctioning body for the motorsports series backed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's call to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in the wake of the Charleston church massacre. NASCAR issued its statement Tuesday, the same day South Carolina lawmakers agreed to discuss removing the flag and one day after Haley said "the time has come" to take it down. And that is ...

Amazon reviewers have a lot to say about the company’s Confederate flag merchandise[Full Thread]Post Date: 2015-06-23 12:32:50 by Willie Green60 CommentsUS retailers like Walmart, Kmart and Sears have pledged to stop selling Confederate flags and related paraphernalia, but major e-commerce platforms like Amazon and eBay have yet to pull products bearing the emblem.A church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that left nine black Americans dead has prompted a wave of protests over the presence of the flag, especially in the south where it is considered a symbol of southern pride for some and a potent reminder of the racism inherent in the regions history for others.South Carolina has said it will take the red banner with a blue X and stars down from its state capitol building. Lawmakers and protesters are calling for similar ...

Google eavesdropping tool installed on computers without permission Post Date: 2015-06-23 12:30:43 by cranky0 CommentsPrivacy advocates claim always-listening component was involuntarily activated within Chromium, potentially exposing private conversations Privacy and open source advocates complain over secret installation of audio-snooping software from Google.Privacy campaigners and open source developers are up in arms over the secret installing of Google software which is capable of listening in on conversations held in front of a computer. First spotted by open source developers, the Chromium browser  the open source basis for Googles Chrome  began remotely installing audio-snooping code that was capable of listening to users. It was designed to support Chromes new OK, ...

Major internet providers slowing traffic speeds for thousands across US Post Date: 2015-06-23 08:25:52 by Willie Green1 CommentsStudy finds significant degradations of networks for five largest ISPs, including AT&T and Time Warner, representing 75% of all wireline households in US Major internet providers, including AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon, are slowing data from popular websites to thousands of US businesses and residential customers in dozens of cities across the country, according to a study released on Monday. The study, conducted by internet activists BattlefortheNet, looked at the results from 300,000 internet users and found significant degradations on the networks of the five largest internet service providers (ISPs), representing 75% of all wireline households across the US. The findings come ...

Walmart: No more items with Confederate flagsPost Date: 2015-06-22 21:00:14 by Willie Green6 Comments Walmart said in a statement Monday that it is removing "all items" promoting the Confederate flag for sale from its stores and its website. The move came the same day that Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina called for the removal of a Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds in Columbia. Her announcement in turn came in the wake of last week's shooting at a historically black Charleston church that left nine dead. Charged in the killing is Dylan Roof, 21, who is white and has been attributed with making white supremacist statements. He has been pictured with images of a Confederate flag. "We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer," ...

‘Sweet Baby Jesus’ beer pulled from Ohio grocery store shelvesPost Date: 2015-06-18 07:21:51 by Willie Green26 CommentsA Cleveland-based grocery chain has yanked a popular beer after one too many customers complained about its name: Sweet Baby Jesus. The chocolate and peanut butter porter, released two years ago by Baltimore-based DuClaw Brewing Co., started selling in Ohio just two months ago. But now, after hearing from customers who said they were offended by its name, Heinens Grocery Store, which has 22 locations in Ohio and Illinois, has pulled it from its shelves, the Baltimore Business Journal reports. Sweet Baby Jesus accounts for about 35 to 40 percent of DuClaws total sales, making it the brewerys most popular beer. When you push boundaries and try to get one group excited ...